McDonald's serves up a lesson for pub trade in dispelling stereotypes

22-Nov-2012 - Last updated on 22-Nov-2012 at 09:30 GMT

Berry: "McDonald's battle against negative perceptions is mirrored in the pub industry"

Any organisation or industry is only as good as the people it employs. So for ours to continue to compete with the multitude of alternative leisure options open to today’s consumers, it needs to arm its people with the range of skills required to run a modern pub.

Many still sneer at McDonald’s and the jobs it offers, but the company’s attitude towards learning and development is second to none. It has worked hard — and spent millions — to shed the term “McJob” and improve the image of its employment opportunities and the hospitality sector as a whole. The fast-food giant points to the fact that more than half its executive team started work in one of its restaurants.

Not bad for a McJob.

McDonald’s battle against negative perceptions is mirrored in the pub industry, too often seen as a last-choice career for those not clever (or well-off) enough to go to university and secure a “proper” job.

Back in May, Beds & Bars managing director Keith Knowles said that the BII (British Institute of Innkeeping), as the professional body for the licensed retail sector, still needed to persuade people that working in a pub offered a viable career.

His comments came just a few weeks after the Publican’s Morning Advertiser revealed the parlous state of the BII’s finances, prompting a mea culpa from chief executive Peter Thomas that the organisation had taken its eye off the ball in the face of new competition offering cheaper and easier qualifications. Its marketing and communication hadn’t been good enough, he admitted.

Thomas vowed to bring new people on board to help tackle these issues. In this week's issue we hear from one of the new recruits, Tim Burrows, the BII’s director of education and training.

Burrows seems to be approaching his new job with vim and vigour, if not entirely plain speaking. He talks of creating a “lifelong learning platform for the industry”, making its qualifications portfolio “fit for purpose” and developing “accessible career routes”.

Before you dismiss this as the worst kind of management jargon, consider the sentiment behind it; helping young people build a professional career in the sector. Along the way, he wants to raise customer-service standards, make it more straightforward for pubs to take on apprentices, and easier for staff to be trained on the job.

He talks of the ultimate goal of pub operators offering a university-level education to employees, much like McDonald’s does for its workforce. If Burrows can help achieve that, then maybe our industry can finally dispel the negative stereotype of the “PubJob”.